UK DASA

This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition seeks proposals for novel approaches to predictive cyber security to address challenges in defence and/or security DASA are interested in proof-of-concept technologies with a view to, in the longer term, developing a deployable solution. Primarily for defence, this would be to detect and counter future cyber threats thus reducing the likelihood and impact. Total funding of up to £1 million is available in Phase 1 of this competition. We anticipate funding around 5 to 10 proof-of-concept research projects of up to 6 months in duration. Additional funding is anticipated to be available for future phases of this competition. This competition is now open. Queries should be sent to accelerator@dstl.gov.uk .

Details of our past themed competitions. You can submit a Defence and Security Accelerator proposal either to our Open Call for Innovation or in response to the technical challenges in a specific themed competition. You can submit your themed competition proposal online once the full detailed competition document is published. Summary competition documents may be published a few weeks in advance of full competition document releases. For a list of all open competitions, please see here.

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is launching a new competition focusing on the contested electromagnetic environment. We are looking for ideas from the private sector and academia to help solve how UK Defence could take a radically different approach to conducting operations across or within the increasingly congested and contested electromagnetic environment. This themed competition is focused on ideas on radio and microwave bands, offering £1 million available in Phase 1 with additional funding available for future phases. This competition supports the Contested Electromagnetic Environment Programme with Dstl to develop new concepts in the electromagnetic environment to ensure the UK is prepared for future opportunities and threats. Innovative approaches are needed to ensure our Armed Forces and Security Services aren’t disadvantaged as the electromagnetic environment becomes more cluttered and challenging; for example, with radio wave interference. The known reliance of many military systems on the this spectrum makes it an attractive target for our adversaries. This competition is now open. The competition document is available on the DASA website . If you have any queries on this competition, please do contact us ( accelerator@dstl.gov.uk ) or sign up for alerts on our news pages.

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) will be running a dial-in event to discuss the Metasurfaces competition DASA will be hosting a dial-in event on 6th September 2018, 10am to midday to provide a short briefing on the Metasurfaces competition followed by an open forum Q&A session. Also available will be the opportunity to book a one to one telecon meeting with the competition team to discuss questions specific to your proposal. Further information about the competition can be found in the Metasurfaces competition document , where you will find links to register for the dial-in and one to one meetings.

This new Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is seeking novel approaches to stopping or impeding tanks and other heavy armoured vehicles on the battlefield. This Defence and Security Accelerator ( DASA ) competition seeks proposals for novel approaches to stopping or impeding tanks and other heavy armoured vehicles while preventing or minimising collateral damage. We hope to achieve this through harnessing advances in engineering, design, materials science, computing and non-kinetic weapons. We welcome proposals relating to physical barriers or effects (such as traps and rapid ways to build them, or interference with wheels and tracks). We are also interested in invisible barriers or effects such as non-kinetic (non-explosive) weapons which could slow or disable vehicles such as those employing electromagnetic pulse ( EMP ) or sonic based methods. Approaches that disable the target’s ability to fight are also acceptable. We are not interested in any explosive-based solutions such as anti-tank mines or solutions involving direct or indirect fire weapons. The primary focus of this competition is defence, but we are also interested in technologies that have wider security applications. Technologies that address a similar capability requirement within the civil sector, such as preventing vehicle-related terrorist attacks, will be considered if they are demonstrated to be effective against military class vehicles and capable of being deployed in a wide range of operational environments related to defence. DASA are interested in proof-of-concept technologies in Phase 1 of this competition with the aim of using subsequent phases to further develop the technologies and integrate them into deployable solutions. In the longer term, potential solutions should be capable of being scaled-up for deployment over large battlefield areas, be passive and be autonomous or semi-autonomous. Total funding of up to £1 million is available in Phase 1 of this competition from which we anticipate funding around 10 projects. Additional funding is anticipated to be available for future phases of this competition. Queries should be sent to accelerator@dstl.gov.uk .

Advance notification of a new competition seeking innovations in technology and approaches to help tackle knife crime DASA is interested in innovative technologies and approaches for the identification of people carrying steel-bladed knives. With a view to, in the longer term, developing deployable solutions to aid the UK Police and security organisations. Total funding of up to £500k is available in Phase 1 of this competition for research projects of up to 6 months in duration. Additional funding is anticipated to be available for future phases of this competition. Queries should be sent to accelerator@dstl.gov.uk

This competition seeks innovations for communications, networking and information services, to help solve defence challenges. An abstract background of a technological matrix sits behind a soldier. On the left are military vehicle icons, a helicopter and ship. This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is seeking proposals for innovative technologies for communications, networking and information services, with an emphasis on the challenges that are specific to defence. This competition is part of a phased campaign being run in support of the Dstl Communications and Networks Programme. The scope includes the development of new physical layers, networking and information layer concepts and protocols, as well as cross-cutting aspects such as inter-layer interactions, network management approaches, and the impact of novel information assurance technologies. We are particularly interested in proposals that address the challenges specific to the defence context and hence are less likely to be satisfied by technologies directly lifted from the civil world. Examples of such issues include; Denial of communications technologies by highly capable adversaries The need to adapt rapidly to changing operational context – including changes in communications capability – without dependence on expert staff The need to integrate rapidly into heterogeneous networks and information systems

£850k is available to new and existing applications for Phase 2 of DASA's Predictive Cyber Analytics competition The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is interested in technologies that can provide a proactive cyber defence capability in MOD’s fixed and deployed military environments to help counter and defeat future cyber threats. This second phase seeks to further develop and enhance novel predictive approaches within the military cyber security domain. The work will allow MOD to better prepare for, respond to and mitigate the impact of cyber-attack. Total funding of up to £850k is available in Phase 2 of this competition. We anticipate funding up to 3 research projects of up to 12 months’ duration. Applicants do not have to have applied to Phase 1 to be eligible, details on Phase 1 can be found on our website . This competition is now open and will close at midday (BST) on Mon 12th Aug 2019. Queries should be sent to accelerator@dstl.gov.uk .

This guidance explains our competition process and how your proposal is assessed. At UKDI , we have a very thorough process for deciding which proposals to fund. The below guidance sets out our full competition process including the guidance given to our assessors to assess proposals. Competition process The competition process is made up of 10 stages. 1. Competition opens All competitions are launched on our UKDI Competition Services page. Sign up to the UKDI Mailing List Be the first to hear about new competitions, upcoming events and other UKDI news. To join the UKDI Mailing List, please complete the short sign up form here 2. Proposal submission The only way to submit a proposal to UKDI is online via the UKDI online submission service. Log in or register for an account . Some tips to help with your submission: before submitting your proposal, check the terms and conditions carefully to ensure that you agree with all of them. You may wish to check them with your commercial or legal department. Please read the Open Call terms and conditions here . The terms and conditions for a themed competition can be found within the competition document. draft your proposal offline to avoid losing material when submitting online be concise. Each assessor should be able to read, understand and assess your proposal within 1 hour and 30 minutes, unless otherwise stated in the competition document. Use the text boxes provided in the application form and look out for the word limits attachments are limited to .png, .jpg, or.jpeg files only. Please provide full answers on the (Desirable/Feasible/Viable) criteria for your Innovation in the boxes provided. Proposals received with Desirable/Feasible/Viable answers provided as attachments will be considered non-compliant and sifted out of the competition. only click submit when your proposal is complete. It is not possible to add any additional information to your proposal after it has been submitted innovators are strongly advised to submit their proposal at least one hour before the deadline stated on the competition document. Proposals submitted close to the deadline risk encountering issues that cannot be resolved in time. Responsibility for timely submission rests entirely with the innovator, no extensions will be made. 3. Competition close 4. Pre sift Once you have submitted your proposal, it will pass through an initial pre-sift process. At this stage, your proposal may be rejected if it: does not demonstrate impact for defence or security does not outline how it meets the scope of the competition is incomplete if the attachments have been used for additional text data over the stated word counts in Desirability, Feasibility, Viability and Additional Information is lacking technical information to allow technical assessment to take place does not demonstrate how the project can be completed in the timelines exceeds the funding limit or timescale stipulated does not demonstrate acceptance of or comply with UKDI terms and conditions is not at the correct Technology Readiness Level ( TRL ) for the competition is a resubmission of a previous proposal and does not adhere to the resubmission guidelines Further guidance on pre sift criteria is described in the online submission service for the specific competition and in the relevant competition document, accessible via the UKDI Competition Services page. 5. Assessment After the initial sifting process, experts from across UK government will be assigned to assess your proposal. When people outside of UK Government are used for assessment, it will be under a non-disclosure agreement and details will be provided in advance in the relevant competition document. During the assessment phase all proposals are assessed against the following criteria: desirable: strategic fit, end user support/pull (letters of support not required) feasible: technical credibility, innovation, risk, expertise of team/capability viable: costs and value for money, project delivery/plan Further guidance on assessment criteria is listed below . 6. Moderation After assessment, a moderator will compile an overview, pulling together comments to provide a collective outcome in the form of a ‘Fund’ or ‘No Fund’ recommendation against the proposal. 7. Challenge Stakeholders/moderators are invited to challenge the ‘Fund’ or ‘No Fund recommendation made against each proposal. Challengers present their argument both in written form for circulation and at the decision conference. 8. Decision conference The decision conference brings key stakeholders together to review proposal recommendations in line with competition delivery, including challenged recommendations. The moderator comments are presented and any challenges reviewed. At the conclusion of the conference, a final decision is made on whether each proposal will be funded. Innovators are not permitted to attend. 9. Decision release You’ll be able to track the progress of your application on your dashboard. You’ll be notified by email when we’ve made a decision on whether or not to fund your proposal. If you are successful, our commercial team will be in touch shortly after the decision date to begin contracting. Once you are on contract, both UKDI staff and a Technical Partner will support and advise you throughout the period of your project. 10. Feedback release If you are unsuccessful, you will receive brief written feedback within a few weeks of the applicable decision date. Feedback will be made available to you via email. Feedback is prepared by the proposal moderator, and is based on comments from all assessors and discussions at the decision conference. The feedback will give the main reasons why your proposal was unsuccessful. Please note that every UKDI competition has a finite financial limit which affects the number of bids we can fund. Where a proposal meets the fundable requirements for a competition, but is not funded, UKDI will continue to seek funding and shall consider your proposal fundable for 12 months from the date of the feedback release. We will share the abstract, Proposal Value Proposition Statement (PVPS) and title of your proposal with partners across His Majesty’s Government that may express an interest in funding the proposal through UKDI , in accordance with the competition document. We may also share this information on our cross-government Ideas Marketplace platform to foster collaboration and attempt to elicit funding. If partners across His Majesty’s Government wish to read the full proposal to decide if they will fund it, we will share the full proposal with them without seeking your permission if it is within 60 days of the feedback release date. If it is over 60 days since the feedback release date we will seek your permission before sharing the full proposal with them. For other potential funders, we will seek your permission before sharing the full proposal regardless of the number of days since the feedback release date. In the event that additional funding becomes available, UKDI may ask whether you would still be prepared to undertake the work outlined in your proposal under the same terms. Your official UKDI feedback will indicate if your proposal was deemed fundable, but not awarded funding at the time. Assessment criteria UKDI uses three baseline assessment criteria; desirable, feasible and viable. The baseline criteria apply to all our competitions, unless stated in the competition document. It is important to note that criteria may be adjusted across competitions in accordance with the needs of Government customers, any criteria changes will be clearly detailed within the competition document. You should check the specific guidance that is provided within the competition document on the UKDI Competition Services page. Once the criteria have been published for a particular competition, they will remain frozen for the duration of that competition. Corresponding guidance on what we need to see in the variou

This competition aims to identify and develop novel, early stage research ideas that may have a significant and disruptive impact on the future of Defence. This competition aims to identify and develop novel, early stage research ideas that may have a significant and disruptive impact on the future of Defence. A disruptive impact is something that radically alters how we do things – this can be positive (e.g. a new capability becomes available) or negative (e.g. a new type of threat arises). This competition is funded by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory ( Dstl ). The outcome of this competition is anticipated to be a pool of novel Science and Technology ( S&T ) ideas / concepts that may be disruptive. These ideas / concepts may be used as the basis for further research within the Defence Science and Technology Futures Programme ( DSTF ) Programme. What innovations are we looking for? We are interested in novel, very low Technical Readiness Level ( TRL ) S&T ideas which could in the future either benefit Defence or form the basis of countering an adversarial threat. We would like you to provide us with an exciting flavour of what might be possible and be disruptive. Your proposal should include evidence of: creative ideas / concepts / technology that have the potential to cause a significant game-changing or disruptive impact on Defence ideas which are at an early stage of development (equivalent to TRL 1-2) ideas that have a theoretical basis supported by reasoned explanation the development of ideas through research to understand their potential to be disruptive in the future development of concepts of how novel ideas might be deployed in the future to become either an opportunity or threat to Defence clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies to Defence Total funding available The total funding available for this competition is approximately £750k (ex VAT). The value of each submission must be for a fixed amount of £50k. Failure to submit a proposal for this amount will result in the proposal being sifted out as non-compliant. Submission deadline Midday on Wednesday 12th October 2022 How do I submit my proposal? Via the DASA Online Submission Service for which you will require an account. Only proposals submitted through the DASA Online Submission Service will be accepted. You must not submit any information classified above OFFICIAL . If you wish to add supporting information that may be above OFFICIAL you must contact DASA in advance and we will discuss solutions with you.

Find out more about our Defence and Security Accelerator competitions. The Defence and Security Accelerator recently opened two competitions. One is looking for highly innovative, ambitious proposals using synthetic biology approaches to produce transparent materials for defence and security. Professor Petra Oyston and Professor Bryn James explained what they were looking for: See an overview of what we’re looking for . The other competition is looking for technologies that will reliably generate power for man-portable and robotic and autonomous systems as explained by Dr Alan Groves. Overview of beyond battery power competition . Find out more about the synthetic biology and beyond battery competitions.

DASA has launched a competition to develop a semi-autonomous reconnaissance and survey system to help troops safely and stealthily advance into enemy territory over water. This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition, run on behalf of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), seeks development and demonstration of a number of system demonstrators able to tackle key issues of gap crossing survey.